Glucose dehydrogenase is an enzyme which catalyzes the reaction: EQU .beta.-D-glucose+NADP.sup.+ .fwdarw.D-glucono-.delta.-lactone+NADPH+H.sup.+.
Recently, in the field of clinical chemistry, the quantitative determination of glucose in a specimen using the above enzymatic reaction has been effected, and the demand for glucose dehydrogenase is increasing.
Heretofore, a process for the production of glucose dehydrogenase by microorganisms, for example Bacillus megaterium (Jap. Pat. Unexam. Publ. No. 58-201985), Bacillus cereus (Jap. Pat. Unexam. Publ. No. 57-16693) and Acetobacter, Acinetobacter, Gluconobacter or Pseudomonas (Jap. Pat. Unexam. Publ. No. 59-25700) has been known. However, these processes have a number of disadvantages. For example, the substrate specificity of glucose dehydrogenase from Gluconobacter is so broad as to exhibit the value 227 on 2-deoxy-glucose and 95 on mannosamine as compared with 100 on glucose. (Enzyme Handbook, page 43, Asakura Publ. Co., Tokyo, 1983.)